My HTC phone

I love decorating my "stuff". I love glamourous, shiny and glittery things, so I thought: why don't I decorate my phone? I've glued cute little accessories and swarovski on the back of my HTC phone. People have commented on it and they seem to like this idea of decoration =)

My miniature cake shop

I love miniatures. There is a Japanese company called "Re-ment" who produced plastic miniatures, and I collect them. I like playing around with the miniatures and arranging them the way I want. I took this photo a few days ago when I finally have time to make the "scene". I made the background, floor, the 2 white cabinets and everything else are plastic miniatures, which are all removable (the cakes can be removed from the plates so you can place them anywhere you want).

Readings 4

Michael Bierut - On (Design) Bullshit  

Summary: Bierut admits that a lot of work that involve creativity and aesthetics involve a creative leap, all of which are counter to whatever rationale as known as bullshit you'll have to come up with to justify your decisions.  

- Professor Frankfurt: "bullshit is not designed primarily to give its audience a false belief about whatever state of affairs may be the topic, but that its primary intention is rather to give its audience a false impression concerning what is going on in the mind of the speaker." 

- every design presentation is inevitably, at least in part, an exercise in bullshit. 

- examples of bullshit: theories about the symbolic qualities of colors or typefaces; unprovable claims about the historical inevitability of certain shapes, fanciful forced marriages of arbitrary design elements to hard-headed business goals 

- goal: getting your client it to do it the way you like it 

- client kept rejecting brochure design, Bierut had no idea what French design looks like but came up with an approach using Empire typeface, his boss presented it as "Ahm-peere"

Jessica Helfand and William Drenttel- Design and Faux Science 

Summary: explains what is real science and how design is becoming faux science  

- Faux Science is the antithesis of modernism: it’s form awaiting content, or worse, serious form retrofitted with interchangeable content. In today's anything-goes world of relentless self-expression, science has become the designers' safe haven. It's the new "look and feel." And it's an easy one to imitate. We grasp its formal conceits—its systematic language of documentation, its methodical alignments—and parlay them into a visual language that resonates with kick-ass authority. 

- Real science: one of the most essential phenomena of the mod age.” It’s hygienic and objective, rational and finite, grounded in numerical certain and cosmological reason. Science is all about clarity and specificity and rationalism, about charting DNA strands and analyzing chemical compounds, about physical density and gravitational pull and a reality that is anything but virtual.  

- information design is a faux authority: we buy into the form so unquestioningly, ratified by an alarmingly robust strain of Swiss modernism, ahistorical, unconcerned with earlier sources and ignorant of alternative models, it’s modernism run amok and form masquerading as content. 

- Panaceas: organisms in the graphical realm are a visual cure-all (in language of numbers, there is mathematical morphology; in the lexicon of infertility, there is reproductive morphology; in linguistics, morphology is the study of the form and structure of words)  

- Documenting: Combine the urge to collect with the inclination to organize, and the resulting activity offers unique assortment of scientific pretensions. In documenting, designers dutifully observe the minutiae of their efforts, recording with a detail-consciousness bordering on the absurd.  

- Thesis model of Hegelian dialectics: scientist migrates from observation to analysis to discovery; designer catalogs the everyday, making thick, wordless books with pictures that jump the gutter  

- Faux Science is the new vernacular, a methodology that, while highly disciplined in a formal sense, is still all about appropriation.  

- "The difficulty lies not in the new ideas, but in escaping the old ones.” In other words, design beyond reach (serious questions about the role of education)

Michael Vanderbyl- Graphic Design Thesis: A Survivor's Guide 

Summary: an overview of Graphic design thesis project

- purpose of graphic design thesis: designed to define the complex intersection between personal voice, conceptual understanding, and the ability to conduct and use research effectively in the service of creating a compelling, finely crafted public communication  

- thesis proposal: a proposition/ argument which you intend to support through research, it might detail your anticipated investigation/ address the potential implications of your proposition; a clear and well written proposal will direct your research, the form of your project and its design 

TIPS: - start with what interests you, make sure you have a point, don't base your proposal on the obvious, shorter is usually better, think through your claims, don't make sweeping statements for dramatic effects, define terms, don't claim you will prove anything, be aware you will revise your proposal as your research and process evolves  

- purposes of research: to understand how to evaluate what you see& read; to develop your own opinions& critical frameworks based o informed judgements; to acquire the critical skills to discern reliable/ useful sources from the junk; to evaluate your own work in light of what you learn through research; to develop your own understanding of the relationship of history/ theory to practice; to have the chance to explore a topic that interests you

TIPS: - let your topic dictate the type of research you do& have an idea of what you look for, maintain a level of cynicism, consult with an expert mentor, develop a system for note-taking, footnote sources, avoid reading pseudoscience, interviewing your friends is not research of intellectual merit  

- thesis project: a proposition or argument explicated by design and supported by research 

TIPS: - do not have preconceived ideas about what form your project will take, create a written outline of your narrative/argument diagramming core and secondary messages, give your audience multiple access points to your content, visual language of your thesis should be appropriate to your subject, make realistic time allowances for the inevitable learning curve, approach the idea of creating an installation with trepidation  

- choosing topic strategies: to elucidate an original observation about your topic, to make audience reconsider the topic/see it in a new light, strategy of opposition, using the personal to communicate the universal, examining societal taboos, propose new avenues for design, elevate the little-notices to a place of prominence in the world  

- 6 project sequence: research (readings, interviews, observations), analysis (what can i do with this research), design intent (what can i do with this research), methodology (how can i do it), fabrication (how will i make it), documentation (process book)

Photography effect - Bokeh

I love photography and I love the effect of "bokeh". It is one of the photography effect that I use often. The main object is focused while everything is out of focus, and when there is light, it will turn into a dot of light. The image will look really elegant and interesting.

Kiwi_GaL, Bokeh Love, 2008, Flickr, 20 February 2010  

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kiwi_gal/2588530003/>.

"Red Romance" Poster

I love this poster. The designer has incorporated words into the girl and her dress. The use of red is very strong and it just brings out the whole image. The words say "romance" and "red", which combines as the title of this poster.

bw-inc, Red Romance, 2008, Flickr, 20 February 2010

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bw-inc/2554658908//>.

Inspiration - typography assignment

We're doing an assignment in typography class, in which, we have to spell out the name of a chosen font with something that we found or we can create our own. I came across this poster and it inspired me with an idea for my assignment. I chose "Bauhaus" and I will spell out the letter by creating geometric shapes because this is one of the main characteristics of Bauhaus.

Pablo Alfieri, Playful, 2008, Flickr, 19 February 2010

http://www.flickr.com/photos/en_remolinos/2227138207/>.

Inspiration - Food design

I love eating. I always think that food is a form of art, a form of design. Food bento art is really popular in Japan. The example below demonstrates perfectly how food is truly a form of art and design.

kickintheheadcomic, Farm Bento, 2008, Flickr, 19 February 2010

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kickinthehead/3018015970/>.

Graphic Design 3 class - photography reference

I have to take photos of water for graphic design 3 class, so, I went on Flickr and I searched for inspirations on how I can express and demonstrate different forms of water.

Manveer, Water Macro, 2008, Flickr, 19 February 2010

http://www.flickr.com/photos/manveer/2859851248/>.

Readings 3

Judith Bell- the review of the literature

Summary: Bell defined “literature review “, “theory” and “theoretical framework” by referencing the definitions of others. She critiqued and did reviews on the short extracts from 3 successful literature reviews, and provided a “review of the literature” checklist at the end.

-Hart thinks lit review important because without it will not acquire understanding of the topic of what has already been done on it, how it was researched, what the key issues are. “The review is a part of academic development, of becoming an expert in the field.”

-critical review of literature: involves questioning assumptions, querying claims made for which no evidence has been provided, considering the findings of one researcher compared to those of others and evaluating. All researchers collect many facts, but then must select, organize and classify findings into a coherent pattern.

-theoretical framework: explanatory device which explains graphically or in narrative form, the main things to be studied – the key factors, construct, and the presumed relationships among them

Clara Nai: provide you some background to the problem of institutional barriers and also to the way Clara grouped her findings

Gilbert Fan: gives you an idea of how he approached his task on the decline in student enrolment; produced a complex but good review and good thesis

Richardson+Woodley: what good is that the language they used, the care they take in drawing conclusions from the research findings and the way some of the findings are qualified

Reviewing the 3 reviews:

Richardson+Woodley: had extensive knowledge of topic before they undertook the work, able to produce exhaustive review of previous studies

Clara and Gilbert: knew great deal about issues and identified topic of interest very early but did not have advantage of a firm knowledge base about previous research, sufficient for only a brief literature

Review of the literature checklist:

1. Evidence of reading will always be required in any research.

2. Researchers collect many facts but then must select, organize and classify findings into a

coherent pattern.

3. Your framework will not only provide a map of how the research will be conducted and

analysed but it will also give you ideas about a structure for your review.

4. Literature reviews should be succinct and, as far as is possible in a small study, should

give a picture of the state of knowledge and of major questions in your topic area.

5. Ensure that all references are complete. Note the page numbers of any quotations and

paraphrases of good ideas. You cannot use them without acknowledging the source. If

you do, you may become involved in a plagiarism challenge.

6. Watch your language. Perhaps inferences may be drawn, but ‘proof’ is hard to come by

when dealing with human beings.

7. Examine your sources critically before you decide to use them.

8. Remember that unless you are comparing like with like, you can make no claims for

comparability.

9. Do not be tempted to leave out any reports of research merely because they differ from

your own findings.

10. Start the first draft of your review early in your reading. Many more drafts will be

required before you have a coherent and ‘critical’ account but better to start small and

then build on your first attempt than to have to make sense of everything you have read

at one attempt.

Eric Alterman- Out of print

Summary: Death and life of American newspaper: Newspapers are dying because of the emergence of internet. Not many people want to read plain old newspapers. Huffington Post created an internet-based news site and it came back “alive”. Ironically, the internet is going to save newspaper companies, if they can fully embrace it.

- few believe that newspapers in their current printed form will survive. Newspaper companies are losing advertisers, readers, market value

- trends in circulation and advertising, rise of the Internet made the daily newspaper look slow and unresponsive; newspapers have created Web sites that benefit from the growth of online advertising, but the sums are not nearly enough to replace the loss in revenue from circulation and print ads.

- the advent of Craigslist, which is wiping out classified advertising- have created a sense of doom

- rather than compete in an era of merciless transformation, the families that owned the Los Angeles Times and the Wall Street Journal sold off the majority of their holdings

- 19% of Americans between 18-34 claim to even look at newspaper(least preferred source for news)

- average age of the American newspaper reader is 55^

- public trust in newspapers is slipping, less than 1 in 5 believe what they read; nearly 9 in 10 thinks the media consciously seek to influence public policies

-Today’s consumers “want news on demand, continuously updated”, want a point of view about not just what happened but why it happened, able to use the information in a larger community- to talk about, to debate, to question, meet people who think about the world in similar or different ways.

- news is a shared enterprise between its producer and its consumer

- Internet-based news site is alive in a way that is impossible for paper and ink. Huffington Post took advantage of their community and created new way of thinking and presenting the news: vast majority of the stories that it features originate elsewhere> editors link to whatever they believe to be the best story on a given topic> repurpose it with a catchy, often liberal-leaning headline> provide a comment section beneath it where readers can chime in

- Huffington editorial process: using mullet strategy (argue and vent on the secondary pages, but professional editors keep the front page looking sharp

- newspapers are dying: the evidence of diminishment in economic vitality, editorial quality, depth, personnel, and the over-all number of papers

Stacy Schiff - Know it all

- Summary: to show the origin of Wikipedia from 2001's progress to current time. The author stressed the point that Wikipedia is not a reliable source because it can be edited by a 5 year old.

- Wikipedia provides so much more content than Britannica when searching for keywords : If you typed "women" on Britannica and typing "coffee preparation” on Wikipedia we can see the big difference (lists espresso machines which you will want to consult before buying.)

- Wikipedia: search word for the whole layout; Britannica only one-fourth of layout, rest of the page are ads

-Wiki is easy to use because when you type in a keyword in the search bar, Wikipedia lists the matches from most relevant to irrelevant; Britannica gives you a list of options to choose from, has more ads and buttons

- Wikipedia has history and additional related topic to the search word, unlike Britannica, which only shows a brief definition of the word.

-Wiki is to Brit as rock and roll is to easy listening- Wiki may not be as smooth, but it scares the parents and is a lot smarter at the end because as like Brit, Wiki is a combination of manifesto and reference work

Quote

"Love the art in yourself, not yourself in the art."